Godard Memories

Foxy and oh-so-hip in a bored kind of way, lovers Michel and Patricia blow into town Friday when a newly restored 50th anniversary, 35mm print of Jean-Luc Godard’s “Breathless” opens at the Chez Artiste. Check out the review tomorrow. So seismic was the arrival of the groundbreaking film in 1960 that aftershocks were still sharp seven years later when “Bonnie and Clyde” rattled critics and thrilled a new generation of filmgoers. Alas, MMG wasn’t around for the original release–or for that matter the screenings that became a ritual for many a college film society. Curious what it felt like to see the film starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg when it was fresh (and, it still is), I asked Denver Film Society emeritus Ron Henderson if he recalled the first time he saw “Breathless.” Here’s what he sent….

As it turns out, I do remember the first time I saw “Breathless.” It was not until 1965. On my pilgrimage from Oklahoma to New York to Denver, I made a stop in Nashville, where I worked for four years for a national arts and culture magazine. I had recently discovered Fellini and Bergman–not in a movie theatre, but in a graduate school film series. In Nashville, in the mid-sixties, there were no arthouse cinemas, so I started a monthly, membership-only film society. I packed the first year’s program with mostly foreign films I had read about, but had never seen (it was a very self-serving program). “Breathless” was the second title on a 12-film schedule. It turned out to be a highly original, groundbreaking film. I fell in love with Jean Seberg, Jean-Luc, Jean-Paul, and the French New Wave. I can’t wait to see it again on the big screen.

Lisa Kennedy has been The Denver Post film critic for quite a spell. The job returned her to the town she grew up in after 20 years of living elsewhere: mostly in New York City. During the time she's been back, she was voted into the National Society of Film Critics, a first for a Colorado reviewer. When she began Diary of a Mad Moviegoer, she wasn't just cribbing from Tyler Perry. In fact, she seldom goes all Madea on movies, thinking the gig is more like a conversation than a competition about who's right about which flick.